


Enter the Soldier

by DragonGoesMoo



Series: Maria Carbonell [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Kid Tony Stark, Maria is a BAMF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 00:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20200981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonGoesMoo/pseuds/DragonGoesMoo
Summary: 2 years after the death of her husband, Maria is finally free of him completely.Just in time for Tony to invite a new set of problems into their lives.





	Enter the Soldier

**Author's Note:**

> Hi,
> 
> So I'm alive.  
I'm still struggling with life a little but I have finally found my motivation to write again. 
> 
> This has been written months after I last even looked at my writing stuff so please keep that in mind if you come across an error.
> 
> Anyway, enough about me.
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

Maria smiled at the college applications strewn across the table as her Bambino’s laughter rang through the mansion. Since Howard’s “disappearance” in the Arctic, Maria had slowly been wrestling control of her life back from him. Even in death he still controlled her with wills and contracts limiting her say in Stark Industries and his fortune.

Now almost two years later, she finally had enough control to decide to go back to school. She knew that her old college was out of her reach. Being in Italy, it was too far away from the friends Antonio had made at his school. Still, she applied to local colleges and watched as they all but begged her to study with them. It seemed everybody wanted the chance to say a Stark walked their halls.

She was just about to read the last acceptance letter when she heard Antonio call out,

“Look Mama! I made a friend,” she chuckled as she rose from the table, praying that whatever animal he had found this time was not as large as that Stag he coaxed into the house the week before.

“Does your new friend want some cookies? I’m pretty sure that…” The rest of her sentence died on her lips as the door to the sun room opened.

Antonio was swinging from a metal hand, grin stretching from ear to ear. The hand was connected to a metal arm that disappeared into black body armour. The man in the armour stared at her Bambino, long hair falling in his face.

“Antonio. Bambino come here,” Maria struggled to keep her voice from wavering as she stretched out a hand toward the pair, pulling Antonio behind her as soon as he was close.

“Who are you?” she growled, glaring at the man, all too aware of Antonio peeking out from behind her legs. This wasn’t the first kidnapping she had walked in on since Howard had died, but it was the first time someone had gotten into the house.

The man raised his head, eyes never leaving her Bambino. She had confronted many assassins and kidnappers while being a Stark and knew that even the most sociopathic of them all still emoted. This man though was blank, there was no joy or anger or even indifference on his face. The only indicator that he was in fact a human was the confusion swirling in his eyes.

“The Soldier has no name,” he answered after she felt Antonio give a small nod. His voice was just as devoid of emotion as his body.

“Who sent you?” she had a dreadful felling crawling around in her stomach and a familiar itch in her mind of knowing that there was something going on that she couldn’t see. The man trembled, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. Maria pulled Antonio further behind her praying that the man, the Soldier, didn’t attack. Fear flashed through his eyes as he locked eyes with Antonio,

“It’s okay, you can tell her,” her Bambino said softly. The Soldier nodded before sucking in a breath.

“HYDRA,” the Soldier whispered. Maria couldn’t have heard that right. HYDRA was gone, destroyed by Captain America years ago.

“You’re lying,” She barked, hand drifting toward a hidden dagger under her shirt.

The Soldier was still staring at Antonio eyes betraying his fear. He shoulders slumped, drawing closer together as he ducked his head and finally looked away from her Bambino. Small, barely there trembles wracked his frame as his eyes dropped to the floor.

This towering, hulking figure cowering away from her small, delicate frame like a hurt puppy caused the itch in her mind to explode into screams of WRONG.

“It’s okay, just tell her what you told me,” Antonio was inching his way from behind her leg, hands twitching like he wanted to go comfort his new friend. Maria was so proud that even in the face of a terrifying stranger her Bambino was still so kind. They would definitely be having a long talk about stranger danger after this was over though, again.

“The Soldier is to find and eliminate Howard Stark while obtaining Anthony Stark,” Maria was, not for the first time, grateful that she had decided to keep Howard’s death a secret. Only Peggy, the Jarvis’ and a few select lawyers knew of the “disappearance”. She hated to think how many more kidnappings would be attempted if people knew that Antonio was the last Stark genius left.

“Mission priority, keep Anthony Stark unharmed,” The Soldier continued eyes still downcast but now filled with confusion. Maria had no real reason to, but she trusted that he was telling the truth, no matter how hard it was to wrap her head around HYDRA still being a thing.

“Mission cannot be completed, Howard Stark is not here. The Soldier has been told that removing Anthony Stark from the mother’s company will harm the child,” The Soldier breathed out, body crumpling like a deflating balloon.

“Howard Stark is dead,” Maria found herself saying before even really thinking about it. A plan was slowly forming in her mind as the extent of this man’s need to obey orders was revealed to her.

“Removing Anthony Stark from my company will certainly harm him,” She spoke softly, know that what she was about to do would probably go against everything this man knew, “Taking either Anthony or myself to HYDRA would harm him, you disappearing now that he thinks you are his friend would harm him,” The Soldier stiffened, eyes widening as he caught onto what Maria was saying.

“It seems that the only way to fulfil your mission now is to stay here and watch over Anthony,” She smiled, just a small upturn of the corners of her lips, as the Soldier trembled harder.

“Mission Handler will not approve,” the Soldier stuttered out.

“Mission Handler is HYDRA. That will harm Anthony Stark. A change in handler is needed,” Maria stated, drawing herself up to full height and pushing her shoulders back. The Soldier snapped his head up, eyes wide and, dare she say, hopeful.

“Confirm,” The word was spoken so softly that she almost missed it.

“I am going to be your new handler,” She hoped that her luck wouldn’t suddenly run out now,

“Name,” still the man whispered, like if he spoke any louder this would all disappear.

“Maria…” she paused thinking hard about what name to use, what this man would respond to best,

“Stark,”

“Confirm, ready to comply,” The Soldier uncurled, standing tall in a parade rest. His eyes stared just past her left shoulder and all emotion disappeared again.

“First,” Maria sucked in a breath, “You must never be alone with Anthony. Second Anthony must never be taken or given to a person I haven’t verbally approved of,”

“Confirm,” The Soldier said, turning and striding away. Maria stood stroking Antonio’s hair as the man paced the edges of the room. He stopped at every window, checking something before nodding and moving on. Eventually he stopped in the corner he had started in, falling once again into parade rest.

“Area secure,” Antonio wasted no time in running from behind her legs to the Soldier. Maria’s heart nearly beat from her chest when her Bambino grabbed the Soldier’s metal hand and started pulling. The Soldier merely followed Antonio over to the couch he was dragging him to, face contorted into the first real emotion Maria had seen on his face. His eyebrows were scrunched ever so slightly and the very corners of his mouth were down-turned.

She finally decided that this man meant no harm when her little Bambino bullied him onto the couch and plopped into his lap, muttering a mile a minute about the metal arm. The Soldier’s face was comical, eyes blown wide while his mouth opened and closed like a fish. His flesh hand hovered around Antonio, flitting from his shoulders to his waist to his back, never actually touching him.

“Don’t worry Mister,” Her beautiful, soft Bambino mumbled, “Mama is really good at makin’ people feel better,” she smiled softly as Antonio started to play with strands of the Soldier’s hair. The screaming of WRONG in her head quieting to a faint whisper but not stopping. She hoped that her Bambino was right, that she could fix whatever was wrong with this man.

For all their sakes.


End file.
